Sovereign: An Oral History of Indian Gaming in America

Compiled and Edited by Suzette Brewer with Cheryl Cadue
for Ipanema Literatures

Suzette Brewer is a writer and journalist, specializing in American Indian culture and issues. Previously, she served as communications director of the National Indian Gaming Association and as public
affairs officer for the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. She also served as communications director for the American Indian College Fund in Denver, Colorado.
She has worked or freelanced for a number of media organizations, including The Dallas Morning News, The Concord Monitor, Native Peoples, Oklahoma Today, The Denver Post, and the
Denver Business Journal. She holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Mississippi. Her published works include Real Indians: Portraits of Contemporary
Native Americans and America's Tribal Colleges. She is a member of the Cherokee Nation and is from Stilwell, Oklahoma.

Cheryl Cadue, a member of the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas, earnerd her bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Kansas. Cheryl was a newspaper
reporter prior to 2000 when she joined the American Indian College Fund as the Program Manager of Public Education and Communications. Currently Cheryl works for the state
of Kansas, as well as working as a freelance writer specializing in American Indian economic development and education issues. She is the proud mother of two children, Everett and Karen Chloe.

Published by Ipanema Literatures, LLC

The Whole Story of Indian Gaming - From a Seminole Bingo Hall in 1979 to a Multi-Billion Dollar Industry 30 Years Later

Compelling first-hand accounts of individuals who participated in all facets of Indian gaming's transformational growth over the past three decades.

Sovereign: An Oral History of Indian Gaming in America

Compiled and edited by Suzette Brewer, a member of the Cherokee Nation and a journalist specializing in American Indian culture and issues, Sovereign: An Oral History of Indian Gaming in America captures the voices of
tribal leaders, lawyers, grassroots advocates, congressmen, senators, and government officials who speak candidly of the parts they played in a story still in progress.

The story itself is not just about gambling or casinos or resorts but is in a larger sense a riveting narrative about the determination of Indians across the country to challenge and
change forever the commonly accepted wisdom about who they were and what they could or could not do. To quote from the introduction, Sovereign is the story of "how people
who once stood on the precipice of extinction finally stood up to the naysayers, the moralists, the media, the states, and the federal government to claim their own
piece of the American dream."

"I firmly believe that Indian gaming has been the most successful economic development tool that was ever brought to Indian country. And it's important to remember that this is not a federal program. Indians invented Indian Gaming."